Your Guide to Anything and Everything Boston

I like social commentary with a little humor thrown in. I also like the opening line from the video below where Jimmy Tingle introduces himself and mentions that he was born and raised in Cambridge, MA. Yay for local comedians.

From open mic nights and street performing to 60 Minutes II and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Jimmy Tingle returns to Arlington’s Regent Theatre with a consummate comedic experience. Final four shows are New Year's Eve through January 2, 2011. Tingle will take audiences on a journey that is as inspirational as it is funny. Weaving the headlines and highlights of the day with personal experience and commentary - including a Q & A with the audience. The politically charged comic promises to be topical, timeless and Tingle.

It's slightly embarrassing to admit, but I still watch a few teen bopper tv shows. One of them is Smallville - at this point I've invested so many years into it, I have to watch the last season. The other is Vampire Diaries. I'm a fan of all things vampire related, except for the stupid twilight ones that twinkle in the sunlight. That being said, Kat Graham (who stars in Vampire Diaries) is going to be at The Estate this Saturday.

I kind of want to go and meet her. Besides acting she also sings. I've heard one of her songs called Sassy, and then another that's a cover of an old Paula Abdul song - Cold Hearted Snake.

Celebrate New Year's Day with an exclusive VIP Access Saturday, featuring Katerina Graham AKA "Bonnie" on Vampire Diaries. This gorgeous actress is also an accomplished singer, known for her cover of "Cold Hearted Snake" and recording two songs with the Black Eyes Peas. Come check out Kat Graham at The Estate on Saturday, January 1st, 2011.

And to be clear, I don't just watch teeny bopper shows. I watch grown up ones too ... on occasion.

Click (here) for more information. Warning, there's music on the website in case you're at work.

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No posts for today guys. In addition to it being my birthday, I've also been packing/dismantling all my furniture all day long. I move out of my apartment at the end of the month ... packing is such a huge pain.

Instead, take a listen to my favorite song at the moment: Armin van Buuren featuring Nadia Ali - Feels So Good.

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I have to admit, I was a little horrified to see that they're selling shots of frosting over at Sweet. But, to each his/her own. I'm not much for sweets, but when I have friends visiting from out of town, they tend to want cupcakes.

So we swung by the Sweet near Mass Ave and Beacon and grabbed a red velvet and a boston creme.

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Tis the season to eat your face off - only a few more days until we have to make our new year's resolutions to lose weight, right? Courtesy of Paul Wahlberg (Mark's brother) via Food and Wine magazine, their family's recipe for macaroni salad.

1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the macaroni until al dente. Drain, then rinse the macaroni until cool. Drain very well.
2. In a large bowl, toss the macaroni with the oil. Add the garlic powder, celery salt and mayonnaise and toss to coat. Stir in the green pepper, celery, onion and parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill before serving.

When it warms up in about 6 months, I will try to make some of this and try it out. In the meantime, stay warm everyone. Scotch helps.

I watch A LOT of food network and travel channel shows about food. But one of the food shows that I missed this time around was MasterChef, so unfortunately I'm not familiar with Tony Carbone's cooking.

But for those of you that are fans of the show, Gilt City Boston is running a deal right now to get a home cooked meal by chef Tony Carbone.

Indeed The Urban Epicurean just may become an annual tradition. Tony Carbone, the Urban Epicurean, creates custom meals based on your favorite flavors, foods and fancy. Tony will come to your residence and help you develop a plan that best suits your eating style, diet and health needs. No grocery shopping, cooking or cleaning needed, as Tony takes care of it all.

A bit about Tony: Tony Carbone appeared on Gordon Ramsay's “MasterChef”. He was one of fifty contestants chosen from 15,000 chefs who auditioned from around the country; and he later achieved the near-impossible feat of becoming a top ten finalist on the show.

I wonder if he brings his own pots and pans too, because I'm pretty sure my kitchen is not well equipped enough to cook a gourmet meal.

Looks like my hours and hours of internet surfing today has paid off quite nicely. I stumbled upon Harvard's youtube channel and they have a bunch of lectures posted from their Science & Cooking series. If you'll recall a while ago I blogged about Ferran Adria closed down El Bulli and then came to Harvard to teach a course - he's in the first video ... or at least I think he is, I've only just started watching it.

FYI, these lectures are long. A least an hour each, and there are 12 lectures. It's going to take take me a while but I'm going to watch them all.

This public lecture series discusses concepts from the physical sciences that underpin both everyday cooking and haute cuisine. Each lecture features a world-class chef who visited and presented their remarkable culinary designs: Ferran Adria presented spherification; Jose Andres discussed both the basic components of food and gelation; Joan Roca demonstrated sous vide; Enric Rovira showed his chocolate delicacies; Wylie Dufresne presented inventions with transglutaminase. The lectures then use these culinary creations as inspiration to delve into understanding how and why cooking techniques and recipes work, focusing on the physical transformations of foods and material properties.

Click (here) to watch the videos.
PS. As soon as I get settled I'm building a makeshift sous vide cooker out of a crockpot, extension cord, and thermostatic controller. There's instructions online if anyone else is interested.

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Not sure if any high school kids actually read this blog, but there's got to be some of you who are parents of high school kids. The Bank of America is accepting applications right now for their Student Leaders program.

The Bank of America Charitable Foundation has issued a call for applications for its national Student Leaders program, which honors and awards five civic-minded high school juniors or seniors in each of the 45 participating communities for their commitment to and demonstration of community service and leadership. Each student is asked to include a letter of recommendation from a teacher, guidance counselor or principal with his or her application.

The 2011 Student Leaders will participate in paid eight-week summer internships at local nonprofit organizations and will travel to Washington, D.C. to attend the week-long Bank of America Student Leadership Summit. There, they will learn how service creates positive change in communities and how nonprofit, government and corporate collaboration is instrumental in community revitalization.

I'm trying to remember what I did as a junior and/or senior in highschool. I think one year I worked at a bank cold calling folks trying to get them to sign up for credit cards. Yes, I was THAT guy. Evil, I know, but it paid well. The other summer, I did research in a lab.

With the start of the New Year, I'm going to be spending a couple of months in NYC to do some interviewing. I could use some new new suits for the occasion. And I've got just the way to get them.

To celebrate the season and capture the light spirit of the new Internet trend of ‘hauling videos,’ Boston.com, with the Natick Collection, is launching a “Happy Hauling Days” promotion from now until December 31.

The promotion urges shoppers who may have picked up the perfect sweater for their sister, got the best deal on an eReader for their husband, or found a gorgeous necklace for themselves to show it all off in the “Happy Hauling Days” video contest for a chance to win a $5,000 shopping spree.

Until December 31, Natick Collection visitors can submit videos of their treasures to Boston.com/hauls for a chance to win the shopping trip of a lifetime – a perfect cure for the winter blues after the holidays wind down.

Thought that you guys might be interested in the results of the vodka tasting that I held this past weekend (here). We did a blind tasting of 5 vodkas at room temperature.

Here's the tally of top picks out of the group:
4 people chose Reyka
3 people chose Grey Goose
2 people chose Chopin
1 person chose Tito's

My top choice was Grey Goose. I'm a little disappointed in myself. Makes me feel so mainstream. I usually drink Chopin or Ketel one. But maybe I guess this means I should switch to Goose.

Oh and if you're curious, this is how "scientific" one of the participants was with her tasting. Yes, your eyes do not deceive you - vodka #5 got a one-eyed smiley face which turned out to be 2nd place.

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Here's your chance to voice your opinion on the best local businesses in Boston. Voting ends on 12/22, so get crackin.

Cambridge-based CityVoter, organizer of the popular The Boston A-List annual contest, sweetens the prize pot this holiday season by rewarding the top five voters who know Boston best and the top three local businesses who obtain the most votes!

The Boston A-List features more than 1,600 local businesses, including boutiques, restaurants, services and attractions, competing to be named “best” in over 230 categories. Category winners are determined by votes cast on The Boston A-List website. Voting kicked off in November and, to date, over 25,000 votes have already been placed.

All voters who vote in at least 50 categories will be automatically entered to win. The top 5 voters who cast their votes for the most category winners (out of 230 categories) at the end of the contest win the prizes.

First prize: $500 for the top voterRunners up: $100 to each of the top four runners up

A cash donation of $500 ($1500 total) will be presented to the charity of choice on behalf of each of the three businesses who generate the most user votes—a perfect way for local businesses to give back to their communities during this season of giving.

Each category winner will be presented with The 2010 Boston’s A-List accolades and bragging rights for the entire year.

I've never had Tasti D-Lite. Anyone out there try it before and want to chime in on whether it's actually 'tasti' or not? Our first location is going to be opening in the Spring and it's coming to Newbury Street.

There's no turning back now (we hope): Tasti will move into 205 Newbury Street in March, operated by an entrepreneurial husband-wife team based out of suburban Lancaster. But wait ... that's not all! There's also plans in the works to open three other Tasti branches in the area, too. The second location will open late next year. And, may we remind you, the treats only have about 80 calories and a mere three grams of fat. D-liteful.

Now that we've got Pinkberry, Red Mango, and the independents - Tasti is going to be in for some stiff competition.

There's gonna be a whole mess of Santas (fully clothed this time) out and about on Saturday for Boston Santacon 2010. Here's the flyer ... it has all the info in it but you might end up cross eyed trying to read it all.

My old boss would always tell me that he wasn't an alcoholic, "Alcoholic's go to meetings, I'm just a drunk." Words to live by, I suppose ... as long as you can make sure you get on the liver transplant list early.

But speaking of alcohol. It's Friday ... AND ... the fine folks at Reyka sent me a bottle of Reyka Vodka so that I could hold a tasting as well as a list of bars in Boston that serve it.

Reyka Vodka is well known for its distinguishing and unique characteristics, such as it lava rock filtration, Carter Head still distillation and use of some of the naturally purest water in the world, which have helped to elevate Reyka to high esteem since the distillery’s founding in 2005. Judges of the Fifty Best Competition recently gave Reyka high marks, praising it as smooth, clean, assertive, rich, silky, with a medium body, strong taste, nice, long finish.

I invited some friends over and am going to have the tasting tonight. We'll see how it holds up to what I usually drink - Chopin. For those of you that follow my twitter, I'll be sure to tweet about it.

I swear that I'm not on Royale's payroll (but maybe I should be), they just seem to be doing the best job of bringing celebs to Boston for parties - and then emailing me about it.

For the last several weeks, all I've seen on my female friends' facebook status messages is "usher, usher, usher." So, I figured you guys may want to know that he's hosting an afterparty next week at Royale on 12/21 and tickets just went on sale.

Ok, so disclaimer before I move on, I usually don't post about really expensive events - because I can't afford it. But this is a chance to celebrate NYE with Shaq, so I figured some of you out there might want to know about it.

Strega Waterfront owner, Nick Varano and special guest “The Big Shamroq” Shaquille O’Neal, will host Strega Waterfront’s New Year’s Eve “Party on the Harbor.” The extravaganza will take place on the13th floor of Fan Pier, setting the stage for spectacular views of the city skyline and Boston Harbor fireworks at midnight.

The Varano Group and Party by Design have joined efforts in transforming the 13th floor into the ultimate New Years Eve experience, allowing for guests to drink, dance and dazzle into 2011!

With performances by The Deney Terrio Dance Party and legendary DJ JJ Wright, admission includes: complimentary valet, dinner, an endless champagne bar, and a continental breakfast when the clock strikes 12. In typical Varano and O’Neal style, expect there to be lots of surprises!

Ok, so I'm a couple days late posting. But I was too lazy (busy?) to go through the entire list to tally up the count, so I let the Herald do all the heavy lifting for me. Thanks, Herald. So the tally is 13 Golden Globe nominations for three of the movies filmed here: The Fighter, The Social Network, and The Town.

“The Fighter,’’ the biopic of Lowell boxers Micky Ward and his half-brother Dickie Eklund, took six nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (David O. Russell); Best Actor (Mark Wahlberg); Best Supporting Actor (Christian Bale) and Best Supporting Actress ( Amy Adams and Melissa Leo). “The Social Network,’’ the story of the birth of Web godzilla Facebook in a Harvard dorm room — based on a book proposal by Boston author Ben Mezrich — also rang up six nods, including Best Picture. And Jeremy Renner, who played a bank-robbing, Charlestown tough guy in Ben Affleck’s “The Town,” was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

Oh and if you haven't seen, Mark Zuckerberg is on the cover of Time as 2010's Person of the Year and both Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale are on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

All I can say is wow. But then again, this is the channel that made that pregnancy pact (Gloucester) movie earlier this year, so I shouldn't be surprised. I just saw the trailer for the new Lifetime movie "The Craigslist Killer." I feel like it's too soon and also in bad taste. But, that's just me.

By my calculation, this will be Pauly D's THIRD appearance this year at Royale. Folks must really like him? Personally, I'm not really much of a Jersey Shore fan - I watched a couple episodes this last season to try to see what the hype was, but I just couldn't get into it. For those of you that are fans of his, tickets are still on sale for his two shows on 12/16.

Pauly D tickets are on sale. Pauly will be playing 2 shows. A LIVE all age show for his younger fans in Boston. Doors will be at 6:00pm and the show finishes at 9:00pm. Pauly will be playing a 21+ show on the same night with doors at 10:00pm. Pauly has fast become one of Boston's favorite DJ's and we look forward to his return.

I'm starting to get really pissed off at Blogger. This is the 3rd time in the last 3 weeks that I've scheduled posts that ended up never going up. But I digress. What I'd like to talk about today is the new cupcake shop that I've been hearing a bunch about - it's run by Todd English's daughter. Word on the street is that Isabelle's Curly Cakes is now open.

CurlyCakes is located at 81 Charles Street in Beacon Hill. Not too much on yelp yet (just one review) and not much info or cupcake images on their website either. I guess we'll just have to go check it out for ourselves.

I think it's probably too late to sign up, seeing as how the run is on Saturday and you (we) are supposed to have raised at least $300 for charity. But, just wanted everyone to be aware that there is going to be a bunch of santas in speedos running downtown this weekend - 12/11. It's going to be a high of 44 on Saturday, sooooo I'll be spectating in some warm clothing.

The run will start and end at Lir Tavern at 903 Boylston Street, Boston. The course is an approximate 1 mile jog that departs from Lir and proceeds down Boylston Street to Berkeley Street. The group then runs back up Newbury Street to Gloucester Street, ending back at Lir.

Here's the latest on the Bad Habit Productions feature that's running now until December 12th, featuring the comedic stylings of Christopher Durang.

Unreal, surreal playwright Christopher Durang brings you a night of short plays that find the "Dramamine in drama." Durang's absurd irreverant looks at theatre and literature will keep you laughing long and loud. Directed by Steve Kleinedler

Like the Globe said. What's better than one Christopher Durang play? Six of them all rolled into one.

Ok, this is the best news I've heard all week? month? extended period of time? According to Bloggery reader Christina, Bon Chon is back! Ever since Privus closed, I'd been going through such serious bon chon withdrawal that I actually went to NYC to get some.

This is definitely news worth rejoicing for! Bon Chon is back in business. It hasn’t moved to Harvard Square like everyone said it would. Instead, it’s still located in Allston, a block down from where Privus use to be. Current location is where the restaurant Toki use to be. Lines are mad long too!

Ok, I didn't go to NYC just for Bon Chon, I went for job interviews. BUT. I ended up eating an inordinate amount of Bon Chon while I was there. If anyone gets a chance to check it out and snap a few pics before I do, send them over and I'll post them for all to see.

Thanks Christina!

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Need a few extra pairs of hands to help with the holiday season? Lisa, over at Lisa's Hands of Time is offering a special discount to all of you (new customers) for the month of December. Readers that have been here a while are probably familiar with Lisa, she's sponsored a number of giveaways for the Bloggery in the past. Those of you who are new, read on.

The holiday season has begun and is filled with a lot of hustle and bustle and the inevitable stress of planning parties, errands, shopping, entertaining, wrapping, decorating and gift-giving.... and there never seems to be enough time to get it all done!

Lisa's Hands of Time Concierge is a personal concierge service that provides errands, shopping, organizing, research, wait-services, and a 'sleigh-full' of services that can ease your holiday stresses.

Lisa's team of elves will help with the inevitable gift-buying and gift-giving process. They provide shopping services; which includes planning, shopping, fighting the traffic, parking and long lines.

Her staff will also wrap all your gifts, hand-deliver locally, or take to the post office or shipping store. They will assemble furniture, toys, appliances etc. They even help with the holiday cards, addressing, stuffing, sealing, and stamping. Lisa's Hands of Time Concierge will also return items, or exchange items after the holidays too.

They also provide help with decorating (the house, the tree, the table) planning for parties, pickup of food or catering items, grocery shopping, etc.

Lisa’s Hands of Time Concierge is offering 10% off services during the month of December to any new customers – be sure to mention the Beantown Bloggery.

My personal favorite service? Getting someone to build Ikea furniture for me. I think her elves do that too. Building dressers, in particular, is a huge pain ... at least for me it is.

I just watched the Christmas episode of Glee. It was pretty good. I usually fast forward through songs that I don't recognize, though. But, it did get me in the Christmas spirit - which makes for a good segue into this Thursday's Beacon Hill Holiday Stroll.

The Beacon Hill Business Association invites you to the annual Beacon Hill Holiday Stroll on Thursday, December 9th from 5 to 9pm. Come early and enjoy Victorian Carolers, strolling brass quintet and horse and buggy rides. Refreshments will be offered at our local shops and all our restaurants are ready to take your reservations for dinner. Bring the kids for pictures with Santa at the Hill House located at 127 Mt. Vernon Street from 3:30 to 6:45pm. The tree lighting takes place at 7pm on the corner of Charles and Mount Vernon Street.

I think I gain weight during football season because I do a whole lot more sitting, eating, and beer drinking while the games are on. May as well do some eating/drinking and football watching for a good cause. Coming up this Saturday is the 7th Annual Army-Navy Football Luncheon.

For the seventh consecutive year, The Ahern Family Charitable Foundation will host its Army-Navy Football Luncheon on December 11. The Ahern Family Charitable Foundation is a non-profit organization that seeks to help veterans and current U.S. military troops. The Army-Navy luncheon will take place on Saturday, December 11, noon at the Bostonville Grille in Lynnfield.

In addition to the rivalry of the 111th Annual Army-Navy football game on Bostonville Grille’s large screen televisions, the event will also include a buffet luncheon, billiards, and a free commemorative coin for the first 500 entrants. During half time there will be a raffle, as well as a silent and live auction. Children attending the event will be given a bucket of game tokens for the Bostonville Grille’s arcade. Several area celebrities are expected to attend the event including Boston Bruins alum Terry O’Reilly, former New England Patriot’s Steve Grogan and Max Lane, former NFL player Stalin Colinet, NECN meteorologist Matt Noyes, WBZ TV anchor Jonathan Elias, Comcast SportsNet’s Chris Collins, Michele Mcphee, ESPNBoston.com baseball writer Gordon Edes, along with Boston radio personalities John Willis and Lori Grande from WKLB, Tina Gao from Magic 106.7, Hank Morse from WROR/WKLB/WTKK and more.

I read the Social Network when the book first came out (I read pretty much all of Ben Mezrich's books) and was amazed to find out they were going to make a movie about it. I just didn't see how it would make for an exciting movie.

But, I just watched it last night (finally) and I was surprised. I quite enjoyed it. Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher did a really good job with it. And apparently, I'm not the only one to think so:

The National Board of Review, an organization of more than 100 film critics and historians, has picked the made-in-Cambridge Facebook flick “The Social Network” as its top movie of the year.

The National Board isn’t always a key indicator of Academy Award glory. Last year, its picks didn’t predict any Oscar wins, but all of its choices did receive nominations. And as the award season gets under way, it appears that the Aaron Sorkin-penned “The Social Network,” director David Fincher and star Jesse Eisenberg are the film, director and actor to beat.

The Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Eric Hewitt conductor, presents a free program featuring works by Mozart and Beethoven. Performance takes place Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010 at 8 p.m. at The Fenway Center at Northeastern University, 77 St. Stephen St., Boston. For more information call The Boston Conservatory event line at (617) 912-9240.

For those of you that occasionally read my blog and think to yourself, "I could do a better job than him." Here's your chance: The Boston Center for Adult Education has a Blogging 101 class tonight.

On Monday, December 6th, 2010 from 6:00PM-8:30PM learn more about the ins and outs of starting your own blog with Starting a Blog: What You Should Know. The class will focus on the anatomy of successful blogs, and will include a demonstration of how to set up a basic blog with links and photos!

On Monday, December 13th, 2010 from 6:00PM-8:30PM make your blog stand out with Boost Your Blog. This class will make you a social media pro, teaching you how using marketing strategies such as Twitter and Facebook will keep your readers engaged! If you’ve taken Starting a Blog or have a blog that you’d like to improve, then this is the class for you!

Looking for something to do on Saturday? You could help the Boston Pops to break the Guinness World Record for the largest group of carolers in one place at one time.

Boston Pops Conductor Keith Lockhart and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus invite members of the public to join them for what promises to be a very special event: a Holiday sing-along in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest group of carolers gathered in the same place at the same time—Saturday, December 4, at noon, outside on the Boylston Plaza at the Prudential Center. The current record for the largest group of carolers is held by Bob Jones University in South Carolina, where a group of 7,514 participants sang carols on December 3, 2004. In order to beat the record, more than 7,514 carolers must sing continuously for 15 minutes.

Bundle up and head over to the Prudential Center. We can't let Bob Jones University win. Oh, and there's other stuff going on as well that day

Kick off the holiday season at Labouré Center’s 20th Annual Christmas House Tour on Saturday, December 4, and Sunday December, 5. The Tour features five homes uniquely and lovingly decorated for Christmas and the money raised will help the 5,000 children, teens, adults and elderly who receive services from the center each year.

“The house tour is a great way for people to see the variety and grand architecture of South Boston homes,” said Sr. Maryadele Robinson, director of the Labouré Center. “It also creates a wonderful opportunity for the community to come together to help support our programs. For many this has become a tradition to begin their holiday season.”

Transportation will be available to take tour-goers from house to house for Saturday’s twilight tour, which begins at 4 p.m. and concludes with a cocktail reception at the Terrace Room at UMASS Boston Campus Center. Tickets for Saturday’s tour are $75. Old Town Trolley will provide transportation for Sunday’s daylight tour, which runs from 12 noon-4 p.m. and begins at the Labouré Center at 275 West Broadway and Castle Island. Tickets for Sunday’s tour are $25 in advance, $30 at the door.

Looking for something to do this evening? There's some holiday festivities going on in Fort Point. Here's the short version:

The First Annual Holiday Night in Fort Point: Stroll, Shop & SipKick off the holiday season:Join us for a night of festive fun in Fort Point this Thursday, December 2nd 2010, from 4-8pm.

Twenty-five neighborhood businesses will be open for a unique evening of shopping, with special offers, discounts, and holiday treats for all. Here's a sample of what you can expect--just mention "Holiday Night in Fort Point" to get your special discounts.

I looked through the full list of stuff. There's definitely an evening's worth of places to check out. Don't forget to get some cider at Flour while you're out.

This is going to be entertaining. Word on the street is that Kevin James is coming back to film another movie in MA next year and it's going to be a mixed martial arts film.

According to a recent Face book post, a local Boston TV station announced that the new Kevin James film would be shot in Boston. “We’ve got a movie coming to town. Confirmed announced by Kevin James on WHDH-TV . He did not have start dates but probably early next year. Salma Hayek comes back to town, too.”

According to The Wrap, “James will play a physics teacher whose school is facing drastic budget cuts. In order to earn money to save his best friend’s job and the music program that his students hold dear, he moonlights as an MMA fighter, and ultimately winds up doing battle in the UFC.”

Sounds like Kung Fu Panda set in real life. Especially if he fights an actual UFC fighter and wins. My choice? GSP or BJ Penn.

Not much info on this one, other than the fact that Mark Wahlberg will be there. Or whether or not we normal folk are able to attend. Here's what the Herald reported.

That Mark Wahlberg will return to the Hingham Shipyard on Dec. 8 to premiere “The Fighter’’ with a pre-party fund-raiser for his foundation at Alma Nove, the eatery owned by his brother, Paul . Stay tuned for further deets!

I wonder if Marky Mark will stick around for the other premiere out in Lowell the following day that I already blogged about yesterday (here).

It's December, which means one thing: presents! But, it's important to remember those less fortunate as well, so I wanted to let everyone know about a Toys for Tots event that's going on this upcoming Saturday 12/4 at the Halfway Cafe in Holbrook.

Join the Water Buffalo Tailgating Club on December 4th at 7 PM at Halfway Café in Holbrook to celebrate the conclusion of Halfway Café’s 2010 Toys for Tots Collection Drive. The mission of the U. S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted.

Halfway Café has supported Toys for Tots this holiday by collecting toys at all six locations across Massachusetts. A member of the U.S. Marine Corps will be on hand to accept the donations and pose for photos with attendees. Tickets for the event are $10 and includes food and fun, with a special close-up magic performance by Darren Young! Attendees are encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy to donate to the Drive.